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Sobibor Death Camp
"Remember Me"
The following list shows details of the people who were deported to Sobibor death camp, and were either murdered or survived. The list is not a list of names, but names where generally some details are known, albeit brief.
A limited list of full names, with no biographical details, only will follow in due course
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Glossary
Bahnhofkommando – Squad that was responsible for the transports that arrived by train
Judenrat – Jewish Council – a form of self-government, but in essence the sole agency with which the Germans would deal with.
Kapo – From the Italian capo meaning chief. A prisoner chosen by the Germans to supervise other prisoners.
Putzers – Young Jewish boys who waited on the Germans, cleaning uniforms and polishing their boots.
Waldkommando – Forest Clearing and Cutting Working group
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Alphabetical Listing of Sobibor Survivors and Victims
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Lotte and Henny Adler
Born 8 February 1925 / 23 July 1930 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Father Hermann murdered in Buchenwald Concentration Camp, spring 1938.
Henny and her sister Lotte went with their cousin Edith to Holland where they lived in the Jewish Orphanage in Leyden. Edith obtains a visa to emigrate to the USA, and settles in America.
The girls cannot leave because of the German occupation and they are both taken to Westerbork on 17 March 1943, when the orphanage is “cleared”.
The girls were deported from Westerbork on 23 March 1943 to Sobibor and both perished on 26 March 1943
Sophie Adler - Heyman
Born on 31 December 1882 in Ahrweiler- Germany. Before the war she lived in Kassel. In 1938 she emigrated to Holland and settled in Amsterdam. She lived as a widow there, no acquaintances known.
On 18 May 1943 she was deported from Holland to Sobibor where she perished three days later.
Shlomo Alster
Born 1 December 1908 in Chelm. Deported from Chem at the end of October or beginning of November 1942. Worked in the Banhofskommando. Escaped in the revolt and after hiding in the forest returned to Chelm.
After hiding in Chelm, him and another Sobibor escapee, Pawroznik hid in the countryside. l Both of them were liberated, by the Soviet army in 1944.
After the war settled in Israel.
Frederike Bacharach
Born 24 April 1880 in Fritzlar – Germany. She lived in Kassel Germany, from where she was deported to Sobibor on 1 June 1942.
Klara Bacharach
Born on 8 December 1893 nee Lazarus, in Appenheim Germany. Saleswoman in Kassel from where she was deported to Sobibor on 1 June 1942.
Lina Bacharach (in Dutch registers known as: Bachrach)
Born on the 4 December 1872 nee Schwarzenberger, in Heilbronn Germany. Until 1938 she lived in Kassel from where she emigrated to Amsterdam Holland.
On 23 March 1943 she was deported from Westerbork to Sobibor where she perished on 26 March 1943.
Moshe Bahir
Born 19 July 1927 in Plock – Poland as Szklarek. Deported from Zamosc on 24 May 1942. Worked in the Banhofskommando and at cutting hair.
Escaped in the revolt. After the war settled in Israel.
Abram Bajrach
He was born in Kalisz. Deported from a ghetto in the Lublin district, together with his brother Maks. He was the youngest Kapo in the camp, 16 – 17 years-old, but he never beat any prisoner.
Therefore Kapo Guwerner vexed him. He was beaten very often by the SS-men. One summer night in 1943 Gustav Wagner started to beat him in the barrack. Bajrach thinking that it was Kapo Guwerner, started to defend himself.
Wagner took him to Camp III and shot him at the gate.
Maks Bajrach
The younger brother of Abram, also called “Fips”. In the camp he worked in the stable. He was killed in the uprising in October 1943
Antonius Bardach
Born 16 May 1909 in Lwov. Deported from the transit camp in Drancy, France to Sobibor on 25 March 1943. He survived the war and settled in Belgium.
Philip Bialowitz
Born 25 November 1929 in Izbica, Lublin District Poland. Also referred to as Fiszel. Deported from Izbica to Sobibor in January 1943. Worked in the Sorting barracks, the barbers and the Bahnhofkommando.
Escaped during the revolt. After the war settled in New York, USA.
Symcha Bialowitz
Born 6 December 1912, the brother of Philip. Deported from Izbica on 28 April 1943. Escaped from the Waldkommando on 20 July 1943. Survived the holocaust and settled in Israel.
Jakub Biskubicz
Born 17 March 1926 in Hrubieszow Poland. Deported from Hrubieszow in June 1942. He worked in Camp II burning paper and unwanted clothes, and he also worked for the Banhofskommando.
On the day of the revolt he was repairing the gate of Camp I. Scharfuhrer Bauer ordered him and another prisoner to unload a truck carrying provisions and alcohol.
Just then a Ukrainian alerted Bauer that a German was dead and the other prisoner ran off and Bauer chased after him. Biskubicz hid in a warehouse, reached Camp IV when it was dark, and escaped by jumping from a watchtower into the forest.
Fought with the partisans in the forest and after the war settled in Israel. Died in March 2002 in Ramat Gan Israel.
Thomas Toivi Blatt
Born 15 April 1927 in Izbica, Lublin district Poland. Deported from Izbica in a lorry to Sobibor with his parents and brother on 28 April 1943. Worked as a Putzer, sorting clothes, and burning books and documents.
Escaped during the revolt. Has written a number of books about Sobibor, From the Ashes of Sobibor and Sobibor The Forgotten Revolt (Only the Shadows Remain).
Emigrated to the USA, he has now returned to Poland.
Leon Blatt
A seventeen- year old boy from Izbica, but no relation to Thomas Toivi Blatt. In July 1943, Leon escaped from the Waldkommando, but was recaptured by the Border Police.
Brought back to Sobibor, SS- Oberscharfuhrer Frenzel ordered him to be beaten to death by whipping. A fellow prisoner named “Radio” beat him to death in the Courtyard of Lager II.
Karl Blau
An Austrian Oberkapo from Treblinka, he was transferred to Sobibor in November 1943 with his wife Adele, to help dismantle the camp at Sobibor, following the uprising in October 1943.
He committed suicide with his wife, just prior to them being liquidated. Franz Suchomel testified during the Sobibor trial that their bodies were still dressed when they were burnt in Camp III.
Melanie Bloch
Born on 31 July 1873 nee Wertheimer, in Regensburg Germany. Before the war she emigrated to Amsterdam, Holland. A widow. Last known address Linnaeusparkweg 38 II.
On 13 March 1943 she was deported from Westerbork to Sobibor.
Ernst Böhm
Born on 12 December 1893 in Krnov / former Jagerndorf Sudetenland; at that time part of Austria-Hungary, from 1918 Czechoslavakia, in 1938 annexed by the German Reich.
Member of the Judenrat in Piaski. Deported to Sobibor in November 1942.
Moshe Bornstein
Escaped in the revolt in October 1943. Survived the war.
David and Gretha (Gitele) Borzykowski
David was born on 13 February 1892 in Janow, Gretha nee Stroz on 18 April 1895 in Czestochowa, both Poland. Moved to Holland and settled in Amsterdam after the First World War. David was an upholsterer by profession. Last address: Nieuwe Kerkstraat 103 III.
Their daughter Rachel married Jules Schelvis on 18 December 1940. That same day daughter Hella married Ab Stodel. Deported to Westerbork on 26 May 1943, and subsequently sent to Sobibor on 1 June 1943, they were killed, together with their children Rachel, Hella (Chaja) and Herman (* 30 October 1927) on arrival on 4 June 1943.
Berek Brand
Perished at Sobibor according to witness Eda Lichtman.
Hanka Brand
Sister of Eda Lichtman’s husband. She was deported from Wieliczka together with her parents Susel and Leon Weissberg in early 1943.
Dr. Szulim Bresler
A dentist from Kolo, Poland. Was deported to Sobibor together with his son Jozek. Attended to SS- Oberscharführer Werner Dubois after the revolt, went with Dubois to the hospital in Chelm.
According to Chaim Engel, Bresler was shot by Oberscharführer Karl Frenzel.
Motel Brinker
He was executed as a result of the Waldkommando escape in July 1943.
Van Broek family
Elizabeth van Broek nee Benedictus (* 23 Februari 1899 in Rotterdam), daughters Lina (* 22 June 1922 in Surabaya, Dutch East-Indies, now Indonesia) and Henriette Elisabeth (* 8 May 1924 in Rotterdam) and son Henry (* 10 March 1926 in Rotterdam) were murdered in Sobibor on 21 May 1943.
Bunio
A Kapo, approximately 26 years of age, who worked in the Bahnhofkommando and the Waldkommando. He betrayed the planned breakout by the Dutch Jews to Frenzel. Joined the conspiracy.
Elias Alex Cohen
Born 27 September 1905
He was deported from Westerbork on 17 March 1943 to Sobibor where he was selected on the ramp, as an SS man asked for doctors and nurses to volunteer. He was sent to Lublin.
He survived the war. Writer of several books on the Holocaust among which “The nineteen trains to Sobibor”
Herszel Cukerman
Born on 15 April 1893 in Kurow Poland. Deported to Sobibor together with his wife his family during May 1942 from Nalenczow. A cook he was brutally whipped by Frenzel on 25 September 1943 in front of the kitchen, for not serving food quickly enough.
He escaped during the revolt and settled in the USA after the war.
Josef Cukerman
Aged 13 the son of Herszel Cukierman, who arrived in Sobibor with his family during May 1942. Worked with his father in the kitchen and the SS canteen, and as a putzer.
After the war settled in Germany, he died on 15 June 1963.
Boris Cybulski
Also spelt as Boris Tsibulsky in some accounts
In pre-war days he was a miner from Donbas, and he dug an escape tunnel in Sobibor at the beginning of October 1943, but on 8 and 9 October, heavy rains flooded the tunnel, and another escape plan had to be considered.
A leading participant in the revolt on 14 October 1943, he killed SS- Unterscharfuhrer Josef Wolf. Cybulski escaped from the camp but died as a partisan fighting the Germans.
Czepik
Kapo in charge of the Putzers. Member of the underground, participated in the revolt. Probably killed in the revolt.
Julius Jonas and Bella Dalberg
Julius was born on 21 May 1882 in Essentlo, Bella nee Nuszbaum on 28 January 1883 in Hersfeld, Germany. He was a member of the Jewish Community Council in Kassel until 1933 and redactor of the “Jüdische Wochenzeitung für Kassel und Waldeck” in which he published many articles about the Jewish history of Kassel and surroundings.
In September 1933 Julius was arrested and spent two weeks in the Breitenau Concentration Camp, near Frankfurt, after he was released they emigrated to Holland, settling in Amsterdam, where he ran a Judaica shop until 1940.
On 23 July 1943 they were deported together from Westerbork to Sobibor.
Max van Dam
Born 19 March 1910 in Winterswijk Holland. A well –known Dutch painter, -winner of the Prix de Rome 1938,- who was hidden by his friend Professor Hemelrijk. Caught by the Germans while attempting to flee to Switzerland, he was interned at Drancy and later deported to Sobibor where he was killed on 20 September 1943. Made portraits of SS men both in Drancy and in Sobibor.
Mozes (Maurits) and Rachel van Dam
Mozes van Dam (* 5 January 1903) and Rachel nee Leons (* 4 June 1907) were both from Rotterdam. Their daughter Emma Rosette was born in The Hague on 23 June 1937. They lived in Voorburg, Laan van Nieuw Oosteinde 275. Mozes worked as a wholesale dealer.
In the spring of 1943 they were interned in camp Vught. Little Emma and her mother were sent to Westerbork on 6 June 1943, on the infamous children’s transport. They were subsequently deported to Sobibor where they perished on 11 June 1943. Father Mozes shared their fate a month later, on 16 July 1943.
Emmy and Ruth Danneberg
Mother, born on 15 November 1877 in Aurich, and daughter, born 3 March 1910 in Kassel, both Germany. Until 1942 they lived in Kassel from where they were deported on 1 June 1942 to Sobibor.
Helga Deen
Born on 6 April 1925 in Stettin, Germany, as it was then. Daughter of Willy Deen (born 3-3-1891 in Tilburg, Holland) and Käthe Deen nee Wolff (born 20-5-1894 in Nuremburg, Germany). Sister of Klaus Gottfried Albert (born 22-6-1928 in Stettin).
She was deported with her family from Westerbork camp to Sobibor on 16 July 1943. Helga wrote a brief diary during the last month of her internment in the camp at Vught, which will be published in 2007.
Anna Dresden
Born on 24 November 1906 nee Polak. Dutch gold medal winner of the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. Together with her six-year old daughter Eva she was killed in Sobibor on 23 July 1943.
Leibel Dreszer
Also spelt Drescher in some reports, with Josef as the first name. A putzer in the camp, 13 years old on the day of the uprising (14 October 1943).
Took Niemann’s horse from the tailors shop, where Niemann was killed. Escaped from Sobibor but subsequent fate unknown.
Aron and Rosa Drücker
Married couple, born on 11 May 1876 resp. 1 January 1886. Deported on 27 April 1942 from Vienna to Wlodawa and from there to Sobibor
Josef Duniec
Born 21 December 1912 in Kiev, but went to school in Rowno Poland. Emigrated in 1932 to France. Deported from Drancy to Majdanek concentration camp, but there was no room, so he was sent to Sobibor.
Escaped after the war he settled in Israel. He died of a heart attack on 1 December 1965 in Haifa Israel, one day before he was due to leave for Germany to testify at the Sobibor trial in Hagen, Germany.
Leo (Leib) and Martha Ehrenfreund
Leo, born in Przemysl Poland on 2 March 1895, and Martha, nee Rosenstein, born 24 November 1893, emigrated to Amsterdam from Berlin, where daughter Herta was born in 1911.
Both were deported from Westerbork to Sobibor and killed there on 21 May 1943. Herta had perished in Auschwitz on 24 September 1942.
Alice and Hugo Elbert
Both were deported from Slovakia to Sobibor in 1942 where they both perished.
Bella Elias
Born on 19 June 1881 nee Weinstein in Eisenach, Germany. She lived in Kassel from where she was deported to Sobibor on 1 June 1942.
Julie Elias
Born on 15 September 1880 nee Pohly in Gottingen Germany. She lived in Kassel from where she was deported to Sobibor on 1 June 1942
Phillipp and Blanka Eltbogen
Born on 20 November resp. 10 October 1891. Deported with their daughters Katherina (* 10-5-1922) and Gertrude (* 14-9-1925) from Vienna to Opole Lubelskie and from there to Sobibor in May 1942.
Isabella Wilhelmina van Embden
Born 5 January 1880 in Nijmegen Holland, nee Jacobs. Last address Park Leeuwenbergh 17 in Leidschendam. Was married to Hijman van Embden who died in July 1940 in Voorburg, Holland. The couple had one son, Joshua who managed to escape to England.
Isabella went into hiding but was arrested, brought to Westerbork and eventually deported to Sobibor where she perished on 2 July 1943.
Chaim Engel
Born on 10 January 1916 in Brudzew Poland. Deported to Sobibor from Lublin on 6 November 1942. Worked in the sorting barracks, the Bahnhofkommando and the barbers.
During the revolt he stabbed to death SS- Oberscharführer Beckmann and SS- Scharführer Steffl. He escaped from the camp with his girlfriend Selma Wijnberg.
After the war they married and settled first in Israel, and then later in the USA. Chaim died on 4 July 2003 in New Haven USA.
Selma Engel
Born 15 May 1922 nee Wijnberg, in Groningen, Holland. Deported on 9 April 1943 from Westerbork to Sobibor. Worked in the sorting barracks and the Waldkommando.
She escaped from the camp during the revolt in October 1943 with Chaim Engel. She later married him, and emigrated to Israel and then the USA.
Jakub Fajgenbaum
Escaped from the camp during the revolt in October 1943.
Leon (Lajbl) Feldhendler (Jules Schelvis: Felhendler)
Born in 1910 in Zolkiewka Poland. Pseudonym: Boruch. Former flour-mill owner, the son of a Rabbi and former head of the Judenrat of Zolkiewka.
He arrived in Sobibor in early 1943 and worked in the Bahnhofkommando. One of the chief planners of the revolt, he escaped and eventually settled in Lublin.
He was murdered in Lublin by a member of the Polish underground. His account of Sobibor was published in Polish in 1946.
Else Feldmann
Born 1884 in Vienna, Austria. A journalist from 1912 and a founder member of “Vereinigung Sozialkritischer Schriftsteller“ (Union of social-critical writers) which the Nazis classified as illegal from 1934.
Her works, among which the successful novel “Mother’s Body”, were banned by the Nazis in 1938. On 14 June 1942 she was deported from Vienna to Sobibor where she perished.
Regina Feldman
Born 2 September 1924 in Siedlce Poland. Deported to Sobibor on 20 December 1942 from the labour camp Staw- Nowosiulki by horse drawn wagon.
She worked at sewing socks, the laundry and sorting ammunition in Camp IV. She escaped during the revolt, married in Wetzlar, Germany under a false name (Wojciszyn) and settled in Australia on 3 August 1949. Later Zielinski by marriage.
Hella Felenbaum-Weis
Born 25 November 1924 in Lublin, Poland. Deported to Sobibor on 20 December 1942 from the labour camp Staw-Nowosiulki by horse drawn wagon.
Worked in the sorting barracks and the garden. Escaped to the forest after the revolt, Hella fought with the partisans, and later joined the Red Army.
After the war settled in Israel, died there in December 1988.
Shaul Flajszhakier
Born in Kalisz Poland. Deported from a ghetto in the Lublin district. Chief of the shoemakers workshop. Nicknamed “Negro” because of his tanned appearance.
He wrote a camp song for Wagner which the Jews had to sing. He did not survive the revolt in October 1943, but killed Volksdeutscher Klaus Schreiber during the revolt.
Leibl Fleischer
Thirteen- year old boy taunted by Frenzel, for his stammering. Died in the revolt
Berek Freiberg
Also known as Dov in some accounts. Born on 15 May 1927 in Warsaw. Deported to Sobibor from Krasnystaw on 15 May 1942. He dug ditches for garbage, later worked as a Putzer with the Ulrainians, and as a barber.
He escaped during the revolt. His memoirs were delivered in Lodz on 25 July 1945 by Bluma Wasser, but later he corrected himself on several points. After the war settled in Israel.
Szama Freiberman
Deported from Wlodawa, managed to escape in 1942 from the gas chambers by hiding in bushes, and returned to Wlodawa, to warn them of the truth about Sobibor.
Moritz Fried
Born 9 September 1908 in Butzbach Germany. Member of the Judenrat in Piaski. Deported to Sobibor in November 1942.
Jakob Salomon and Liebe Rachela Friedmann
Jakob was born in Rzeszow on 28 April 1894, Liebe nee Sonnenberg, in Lancut also in Poland on 9 January 1898. They emigrated to Germany and got six children. Later they moved to Amsterdam. Last known address Amstel 107 III.
Deported to Sobibor where they perished on 21-5-1943, together with son Moritz (* 13-5- 1930). Two weeks earlier son Emil (* 21-9-1925), and on 14 May son Benno (* 22-6-1921) and daughter Toni (* 18-8-1923) were also killed in Sobibor. Two children survived the war.
Koenraad Huib Gezang
Born on 29 January 1942 in The Hague, Holland. He was deported to Sobibor together with other Jewish children from the Amsterdam children’s home “De Creche”, opposite to the “Joodsche Schouwburg”. Children under 12, after being rounded up, were taken to “De Creche”.
On 16 October 1942 an 8 months old boy with no specific marks was exposed in front of the house Duinwijckweg 1 in Bloemendaal, 25 km west of Amsterdam. According to the Dutch law the child was registered Van Duinwijck as his 'family'-name, and after Hector
Malot's novel it was given Remi as first name. Foundlings in those days were supposed to be Jewish and so was Remi, after Lodewijk Strak, NSB- and SS member and alderman of Amsterdam, stated the child had Jewish ears. Remi was taken to "De Chrèche", opposite to the "Joodsche Schouwburg", where all Jewish children under 12 were taken after being rounded up. Because of all attention the baby received there, it was not possible for Dutch underground members to smuggle him out and into hiding. Remi was deported to Westerbork and from there to Sobibor, where he perished on 21 May 1943.
After the war it became known that his real name had been Koenraad Huib Gezang, born in The Hague, on 29 January 1942. His mother, Florence Gezang nee Goudeket, had also perished in Sobibor, on 9 April 1943, six weeks before her son."
Moshe Goberman
Spoke openly about the possibility of revolt, was betrayed and killed by the Germans, according to Moshe Bahir.
Katty (Catharina, Kitty) Gokkes
Born 1 September 1923 in The Hague. Her mother Sophie nee Hekster (* 29-11-1898) and brothers Simon (* 19-11-1927) and Isaac (* 24-12-1934) were on the children’s transport from camp Vught to Westerbork and subsequently deported to Sobibor, where they perished on 11 June 1943.
Katty escaped during the revolt, fought in the forest as a partisan. Died of typhus on 20 September 1944.
Mordechai Goldfarb
Born on 15 March 1920 in Piaski, Poland. Deported with Kurt Thomas on 6 November 1942. He painted plaques and the suitcase labels of the SS men.
Escaped during the revolt and joined a partisan unit.
Betty Goldstein
Born on 29 November 1901 in Nuremburg, Germany. On 4 April 1942 she was deported from Munich to the Piaski transit ghetto. Several months later she was deported to Sobibor.
Eugenie Goldstern
Born 1 March 1884 in Odessa, Ukraine, Czarist Russia. Ethnologist. Deported on 14 June 1942 from Vienna to Sobibor.
Walter Guttsmann
Born 8 May 1880 in Berlin, Germany. Member of Judenrat in Piaski. Deported to Sobibor in November 1942.
Mojsze Guwerner
He was deported from Hrubieszow, Poland. He was appointed a Kapo in the camp. He was cruel towards the prisoners. Denounced by Kapo “Berliner” and executed with the other Kapos in the summer of 1943.
Mozes Richard and Philip Max Hakker
Father (* 31-1-1894) and son (* 30-9-1920) from Rotterdam, last known address Oosteinde 301 Voorburg, Holland. Mozes Richard Hakker tried to escape to Switzerland with his wife, son and daughter. They were betrayed in Nancy, France. Via camp Rivesaltes they were interned at camp Gurs. They got some protection from the Dutch consulate in Lyon but in February 1943, the family was caught by the Vichy police. The women were set free. The men were deported via transit camp Drancy to Sobibor, where they perished on 9 March 1943.
A war diary and some postcards sent by Mozes Richard Hakker are kept at the Historical Museum of Rotterdam “Schielandhuis”.
Samuel and Berta Hamburger
Samuel was born on 26 February 1869 in Colmberg, Germany. Before the war he emigrated to Holland together with the family with which he had lived in Nuremburg.
On 11 May 1943 he was deported to Sobibor from the Westerbork camp and he perished on 14 May 1943. Berta was born on 29 October 1873, nee Schlachter, in Braunsbach, Germany.
She was deported from Westerbork camp to Sobibor and she perished on 23 July 1943
Marcus Hamme
Born on 24 December 1901 in The Hague, Holland. Bookkeeper who lived in Oud-Beijerland near Rotterdam, with wife and two children who all three survived the war.
Deported from Westerbork to Sobibor where he perished on 16 July 1943.
Salomea Hannel
Escaped during the revolt.
Elly Louise Herschel
Born 8 September 1924 in Zwolle, the Netherlands. Early 1941 she lived in Amsterdam with her parents, Nathan Herschel (* Genemuiden,
16 January 1894) and Reintje Herschel nee Anholt (* Zwolle, 24 August 1893), and her sister Betsy Estella (* Zwolle, 11 September 1921); last known address Volkerakstraat 28. They were deported to Westerbork and from there to Sobibor, but not together. Elly and Betsy were on the train that left on 6 April. Betsy was gassed on arrival, Elly was selected for work in the laundry.
On 23 May 1943 Elly wrote a postcard from Sobibor (which she called "Arbeitslager Wlodawa") to her parents, believed to be still alive in transit camp Westerbork. But in fact Elly's parents had also been deported to Sobibor, on 4 May 1943. Both had perished on arrival on 7 May 1943, no more than a few hundred yards away from their daughter. The postcard was sent to Westerbork, not as was usual to the Jewish Council in Amsterdam, probably via the 'Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland', Berlin-Charlottenburg, Kantstraße 158.
Elly was mentioned in the testimonies of Sobibor survivors Selma Engel-Wijnberg and Ursula Stern (Ilona Safran). She was killed probably during or shortly after the uprising. The official date of her death, 31 October 1943, was registered for administrative reasons."
Josef Herszman
Born in 1925 in Zolkiewka, Poland. Deported from Chelm to Sobibor. Worked in the Sorting barracks, the Banhofskommando and the Waldkommando.
He escaped during the revolt, and after the war settled in Israel.
Kurt Hirschmann
Born on 26 October 1900 in Vienna, Austria. Member of the Judenrat in Piaski. Deported to Sobibor in November 1942
Moshe Hochman
Escaped during the revolt.
Zyndel Honigman
Born on 10 April 1910 in Kiev, Ukraine, Czarist Russia. At the outbreak of the Second World War lived in Gorzkow near Izbica Lubelski.
Deported to Sobibor in November 1942 but he escaped. In April 1943 deported once again from Trawniki to Sobibor. He worked in the kitchen and then the Waldkommando where he escaped a second time on 20 July 1943.
After the war settled in the USA.
Michael Itzkowtich
Escaped during the revolt, and was in the forest with Alexander Pechersky
Joseph Jacobs
A former Dutch naval officer who arrived in Sobibor on 21 May 1943. Some testimonies state Jacobs was a journalist who had fought in the International Brigade in Spain.
Jacobs was encouraged into Underground activity by Leon Feldhendler, and in August 1943 a plan was developed, with assistance by Ukrainian guards to obtain weapons from the camp arms shed.
The escape was betrayed by a Ukrainian, and despite enduring severe beatings and torture, Jacobs refused to implicate any other prisoner.
Seventy- two Jews, including Jacobs, were executed in Camp III on Wagner’s instructions. Although several people by the name of Joseph Jacobs are known to have been killed in Sobibor, there is no hard evidence for this statement in Dutch Holocaust statistics.
Lea Jourgrau
Born on 5 October 1904 nee Friedmann, in Tarnow Poland. She came to the Netherlands from Palestine probably in 1929. She was caught by the Nazis despite hiding in Amsterdam, and taken to Westerbork.
She was subsequently deported to Sobibor where she perished on 23 July 1943.
Edgar Kahn
Born on 12 October 1907 in Merzig, Saarland. He fled Germany in 1935 with all his family (parents, brothers, sisters, wife, and baby girl). He was married to Thea Liselotte Salomon.
A part of the family first gathered in Alençon before some fled to the “Free Zone”. Some survived the Holocaust, but most of them perished in Auschwitz- Birkenau.
Edgar Kahn was arrested in Lavelanet in the French Pyrenees around 20 February 1943, triggered by the killing of two Luftwaffe officers in Paris on 13 February 1943.
He was imprisoned in the transit camp at Gurs. On 26 February 1943 – the day his daughter was born in Lavelanet, hidden in the attic of the local convent by sisters, who protected his wife and her daughters until the end of the war – he was taken to Drancy, the transit camp in the suburbs of Paris.
He was deported to Sobibor on Convoy Number 50 on 4 March 1943.
Heintje Clara van de Kar
Born 15 September 1915 in Amsterdam. Sister of Celina Leeda-Van de Kar. She was murdered in Sobibor on 28 May 1943
Jacob and Betje van de Kar
Jacob was born 11 August 1889 in Amsterdam, Holland, as the son of Jacob van de Kar and Esther Cohen Rodrigues. Betje was born 23 February 1883 nee Wurms, in Amsterdam, Holland, as the daughter of Barend Wurms and Sara Lap.
Both perished in Sobibor on 28 May 1943. Their sons Philip and Mozes died in concentration camp Mauthausen. Philip in September 1941, his brother one year later.
Vrouwtje van de Kar
Born 6 January 1916 in Amsterdam, nee Wittenburg. She lived with husband David, a labourer, and their sons Marcus (* 31-8-1939) and Mozes (* 25-4-1941) in the Lange Houtstraat, near the Waterlooplein in the old Jewish quarter of the city.
Though not as a family of four. While still pregnant the house is attacked by Dutch nazis and German soldiers early in the turbulent month of February 1941. Husband David is among the victims of the violent round up at the Jonas Daniël Meyerplein on the 22th, cause of the February strike 3 days later. He is sent to transit camp Schoorl and from there to KZ Buchenwald; he dies in Mauthausen in July 1941.
Vrouwtje and her little boys are deported to Westerbork and from there to Sobibor, where they are gassed on arrival on 7 May 1943.
Serka Katz
A girl from Dubienka, deported to Sobibor together with Eda Lichtman and Bella (Bajle) Sobol in June 1942. They were deported from Hrubieszow in a transport of 7000 people, and Serka Katz worked at cleaning the living quarters of the SS.
She escaped from the camp but probably perished in the forest.
Friderich–Wilhelm Kempner
Born on 29 August 1914 in Berlin, Germany. Member of the Judenrat in Piaski. Deported to Sobibor in November 1942
Gerrit Kleerekoper
Born 15 February 1897 in Amsterdam. He was one of two gymnastics coaches for the Netherlands’ women’s team at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, the first time women’s gymnastics was included in the Olympic program.
A popular coach he helped lead the Dutch team to the gold medal as they amassed 316.75 points. Killed in Sobibor on 2 July 1943 together with his wife Kaatje (* 29-8-1895) and their 14-year old daughter Elisabeth (* 14-10-1928).
His son Leendert (* 15-1-1923) was killed in Auschwitz- Birkenau the following year. Kleerekoper was killed together with Helena Kloot, one of his gymnasts.
Helena Kloot
Born 1 August 1903 in Amsterdam, nee Nordheim. Dutch gold medal winner of the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. Hairdresser by profession, as was her husband Abraham (* 28-7-1902).
Together with him and her daughter Rebecca (* 12-4-1933) she was deported to Sobibor. They were all killed on 2 July 1943
Abraham Kohn
Born 25 July 1910 in Lodz. Deported to Sobibor in May 1942 from Wisocka. He worked in the sorting barracks, the kitchen and the Waldkommando.
After the war he settled in Australia. He died on 19 January 1986 in Melbourne.
Josef Kopf
Born in Bilgoraj, Poland. Escaped from the Waldkommando on 20 July 1943, with Szlomo Podchlebnik whilst obtaining water to drink at the nearby village of Zlobek, after killing the Ukrainian guard.
Josef Kopf was murdered in August 1944 by his Polish “friends”. He had left his belongings with them for safekeeping.
Chaim Korenfeld
Born 15 May 1923 in Izbica Lubelskie, Poland. Deported to Sobibor from Izbica on 28 April 1943. Worked in the Waldkommando and escaped on 20 July 1943
Emigrated to Italy and then settled in Brasil.
Fred Kostman
From Krakow. A tall handsome young man aged twenty-one who escaped during the revolt and found refuge in the forest. Killed on 23 April 1944 by the farmer Bojarski, who was sheltering Fred, Thomas Toivi Blatt , Szmul Wajcen.
Siegfried Kugelmann
Born on 17 July 1884 in Witzenhausen near Kassel, Germany. Member of the Judenrat in Piaski. Deported to Sobibor in November 1942
Sasha Kuptshin
Member of the underground, appointed by Pechersky to act as a security team to safeguard the meetings in the women’s barrack.
Celina Leeda – Van de Kar
Born on 11 May 1904 in Amsterdam, Holland. Wife of Aäron Leeda who was murdered in Auschwitz on 13 November 1942, sister of Heintje Clara van de Kar.
She perished in Sobibor on 20 March 1943, together with her children Jacob (* 12-3-1930), Mozes (* 28-4-1932), Bertha (* 11-3-1934), Sophia (* 7-8-1936) and Rebecca (* 7-6-1938).
Szlomo Leitman
A Polish Jew who had been deported to Sobibor from the SS Labour camp on Sheroka Street in Minsk. A carpenter by profession, a leading member of the Underground in Sobibor, he killed SS- Unterscharfuhrer Friedrich Gaulstich in a newly built barrack, near the carpentry workshop, during the uprising.
He was however, subsequently wounded during the escape from the camp and after running about 3km his strength gave way, and he begged to be shot.
Chaim Lejst
Born in Zolkiewka, Poland. Deported to Sobibor on 23 April 1943. Escaped during the revolt. After the war settled in Israel
Samuel Lerer
Born 1 October 1922 in Zolkiewka, Poland. Deported to Sobibor in May 1942. Looked after the horses and chickens. Escaped from the camp during the revolt.
Recognized former SS- Oberscharführer Erich Bauer in Berlin and Bauer was arrested.
Yehuda Lerner
Born 22 July 1926 in Warsaw. Deported from Warsaw to Smolensk where he worked for the Organisation Todt for ten months building an airfield.
He escaped but was recaptured and sent to the Minsk ghetto, and then onto an SS Labour Camp on Sheroka Street. Deported from this camp to Sobibor, he worked as a carpenter.
During the revolt Lerner killed SS – Oberscharführer Graetschus and the Volksdeutscher Ivan Klatt. Survived the war fighting as a partisan in the forest.
Emigrated to Israel, and took part in the Claude Lanzmann’s film about the Sobibor revolt, “Sobibor, 14 octobre 1943, 16 heures”.
Aron Licht
Escaped from the Waldkommando on 20 July 1943
Berek Lichtman
Fifteen -years old he worked first in the laundry, then in the kitchen and finally in the shoemakers barracks. Hid Vallester’s body after he was killed during the revolt.
He died during the revolt shooting at guards to cover those escaping.
Eda Lichtman
Born 1 January 1915, nee Fiszer in Jaroslav Poland. Deported to Sobibor in the middle of June 1942. Worked in the Laundry and in the Sorting barracks.
Escaped during the revolt and after the war settled in Israel.
Itzhak Lichtman
Born 10 December 1908 in Zolkiewka, Poland. Deported to Sobibor on 15 May 1942. Worked in the shoemakers shop. Fought as a partisan and subsequently joined the Polish army
Married Eda whom he met in Sobibor and after the war settled in Israel. Itzhak died in 1992 in Israel.
Pesia Lieberman
Young woman who escaped from the death camp area in Sobibor on 25/26 December 1942, with two Ukrainians guards, and three other prisoners.
They sought refuge in a farm near the village of Olchowiec, but were betrayed, and killed by members of the Polish Police. Fanny and Jacob Liebschutz
Fanny and Jacob Liebschutz were deported to Sobibor in 1942.
Yefim Litwinovski
Was put in charge of a battle-team whose task was to cut the barbed wire fence near the camp commandant’s house. Escaped from the camp and survived the war.
Hugo and Else Löwenstein
Hugo was born 4 September 1894 in Enger/ Westphalia , Germany. Else was born 11 August 1893 nee Goldbach, in Herford, Germany. They had two children Emmi Renate (* 7-2-1925 in Herford, Germany) and Hans.
The family emigrated to Holland in 1934 where they settled on Merwedeplein 13 III, the same square where Anne Frank lived. Hans went to the USA in 1939.
Hugo, Else and Emmi were all deported to Sobibor where they perished on 9 June 1943.
Luka
Luka was a German Jewess who was deported from Holland who arrived in Sobibor with her father and was assigned to look after the rabbits.
She was the “ girlfriend” cover, for Sasha Pechersky’s meetings with Leon Feldhendler. She was probably killed in the revolt
Isidor Lutomirski
Born on 18 June 1892 in Amsterdam. Lived on Herengracht 64, together with four elder sisters. Stockbroker. None of the Lutomirski’s survived the war. Isidor’s sister Martha (* 17-6-1883) was gassed in Sobibor on 13 March 1943. The others died in Auschwitz. He himself perished in Sobibor on 9 April 1943.
Izak Maarsen
Isaac Maarsen was born on 27 February 1892 in Amsterdam. A brilliant student at the Dutch-Israelite Rabbinical School of Amsterdam and appointed rabbi in his native city in 1919, he married Jeannette Boekdrukker (Born Amsterdam, 28 November 1895). They had three daughters, Rosina (Born Amsterdam, 11 November 1923), Henriette (Born Amsterdam, 31 August 1925) and Suzanna (Born The Hague, 9 February 1928). Maarsen was appointed Chief Rabbi of The Hague, the second largest Jewish community in Holland, in 1925. He was an influential leader, especially in his resistance to Jewish assimilation and liberal "reform". After Rosina was ordered for forced labour (and killed in Auschwitz in January 1943), the other members of the family were deported via Westerbork to Sobibor, where they perished on 23 July 1943.
Szmul Machles
Escaped from Sobibor in the very early days of the camps history.
Mozes and Jettje Manheim
Mozes was born 3 June 1882 in Rotterdam. A draughtsman, he married Jettje Froukje Cohen, born 6 January 1889 in Opsterland. Both lived in the town of Amersfoort, Jacob Catslaan 35. They had one son who survived the war.
Mozes and Jettje were deported to Westerbork and from there to Sobibor, where they perished on 16 July 1943.
Abraham Margulies
Born 25 January 1921 in Zyrardow, Poland. Worked at one of the Belzec Labour camps in 1940 in Belzec, building the border defence line between the General Governement and the Soviet Union.
Deported on the 24 May 1942 to Sobibor from Zamosc. Worked in the Bahnhofkommando, the kitchen and in the sorting barracks. Escaped from the camp during the revolt.
After the war emigrated to Israel.
Eva–Brigitte Marum
Born 17 July 1919 in Karlsruhe, Germany. She was the youngest of three children. Her father was arrested and murdered by the Nazis, for anti-Nazi activities.
In April 1934 she and her mother emigrated to France. In 1941 her sister obtained tickets for a ship to the USA, but Eva could not sail as she was nine months pregnant.
She gave birth in Marseille, her son survived the war as she gave him to a Jewish children’s home in Limoges, and after the war he settled in Israel.
She was arrested by the Germans in January 1943 and deported to Sobibor where she perished.
Matys
Escaped from the camp in the early days of the camps history in 1942.
Siemion Mazurkiewicz
Escaped from Sobibor during the October 1943 uprising. In the forest departed with Alexander Pechersky’s group before they crossed the Bug River.
Yechaskel Menche
Born 7 January 1910 in Kolo, Poland. In 1937 married Hella Podchlebnik, Schlomo’s sister. Deported to Sobibor from Izbica in April or May 1942.
Worked in the sorting barracks and the tailors workshop making caps
Escaped in the revolt. Settled in Australia, died in Melbourne in 1984
Moshe Merensztajn
Escaped during the October 1943 revolt
Zelda Metz
Born 1 May 1925 nee Kelberman in Siedliszcze, Poland. Deported from a labour camp at Staw to Sobibor on 22 December 1942, together with her cousin Regina Feldman and Estera Raab. She worked in the tailor’s shop.
Worked in the group that constructed Camp IV. Escaped from the camp during the October 1943 revolt. After the war settled in the USA.
Herman Jacob Minekenhoff
Born 10 February 1895 in Amsterdam. Journalist who lived in the village of Naarden, between Amsterdam and Hilversum in Holland. Deported from Westerbork to Sobibor and perished on 23 July 1943.
Moniek
Was appointed the conductor of the camp choir in Sobibor was promoted to the rank of kapo. Foreman of the putzers. Member of the underground.- encouraged the inclusion of Kapos in the revolt planning and execution - killed during the uprising.
Rabbi Mendel Morgensztern
The last Rabbi in the Wlodawa Jewish Community. Member of the Hassidic dynasty from Kock. Deported in the summer of 1942 during the so-called “Children’s Action” when only children were deported to Sobibor.
Rabbi Morgensztern voluntarily went with the children to their death in Sobibor.
Mundek
Mundek worked in the tailors shop and stabbed Niemann’s dead body calling out the names of his wife and children killed in Sobibor. He was gagged and placed in a closet.
Muniek Mussenfeld
A Polish Jew who worked in the Camp’s bakery. During the uprising he was killed in the Bakery.
Herbert Naftaniel
52 year old German Jew from Berlin, hence the nickname “Berliner”. A luggage sorter. Betrayed the Kapos who were planning to escape during the first part of September 1943.
Appointed the Head Kapo. Cruel and mocking, even the SS copied his manner. Berliner was attacked by a number of prisoners, led by Kapo’s Poczcki, Bunio and others and beaten with a whip, almost to death.
“Berliner” was poisoned by the prisoners with the tacit approval of Frenzel.
Abraham and Richard Nol
Abraham, born 2 November 1919 in Uitgeest, and Richard, born 8 November 1920 in Amsterdam were cousins. Abraham worked as a bookkeeper, Richard was a commercial artist making drawings from models. His mother was a patient in the Jewish asylum “Het Apeldoornse Bos”.
Abraham and Richard were arrested on 18 May 1942 in IJmuiden during an attempted escape by fishing boat to England. After 12 months in prisons in Holland, -Scheveningen, Haaren, Utrecht,- they were sent to Westerbork camp and from there deported to Sobibor on 18 May 1943. They perished on 21 May 1943.
Kathe Liselotte Norden
Born 16 January 1919 nee Haendel, in Wollin, Germany. Daughter of Georg and Rosy Haendel. Married to Karel Norden. Member of the Deventer Hachshara pioneers.
Deported from Amsterdam, Holland, to Sobibor where she perished on 9 July 1943
Jacob (Jaap) Nunes Vaz
Born 20 September 1906 in Amsterdam, Holland. Member of the independent socialist party. He worked as a journalist for the underground newspaper “het Parool” and was arrested by the Gestapo on 25 October 1942 in the town of Wageningen. Imprisoned in Scheveningen.
He was deported from Westerbork transit camp to Sobibor and perished there on 13 March 1943
Samuel Parijs
Born on 21 February 1913 in Amsterdam, Holland. Son of David and Rosa Parijs. A chemist by profession.
He was deported to Sobibor where he shared the fate as his parents, who died on 28 May and 28 March 1943. Samuel perished on 4 June 1943.
Alexander (Sasha) Pechersky
Born on 22 February 1909 in Kremenchuk, Czarist Russia. Born into a middle class Jewish family – in 1915 his family moved to Rostov on Don, where he later studied music and theatre.
After receiving his diploma, he worked as a director in a string of so-called cultural centres, where he organised amateur theatre. He married and had a daughter Elochka, who survived the holocaust by hiding in a Ukrainian village.
In October 1941 Sasha was conscripted into the Soviet army as a junior commander. In the area of Viazma he was taken prisoner by the Germans.
In May 1942 Sasha and four other prisoners attempted to escape but they were captured. They were sent to a penal camp in Borisov, where it was discovered he was a Jew, and was thus sent to a labour camp run by the SS on Sheroka Street Minsk.
In this camp he met, and became friendly with a Polish Jew carpenter, called Shlomo Leitman. They were deported from Minsk and arrived in Sobibor on 23 September 1943.
Pechersky because of his military experience, along with Leon Feldhendler planned and executed the longed for uprising in Sobibor. After escaping from the camp, and hiding in the forest, Pechersky and his men who had arrived in the transports from Minsk, separated from the other prisoners who had survived the revolt.
Pechersky and his group succeeded in crossing the Bug River on the night of 19/20 October 1943 and three days later they met with Soviet partisans in the area of Brest Litovsk and joined up with them to fight the Germans. After the liberation Sasha returned to the Ukraine where he was re-united with his daughter.
He was arrested during Stalin’s reign of terror, and was imprisoned, but was released when the truth about his escape from Sobibor became known.
Sasha died in January 1990 in Rostov on Don.
Josel Pelc
In June 1943 Josel Pelc, a carpenter from Tyszowice successfully escaped in the middle of night by cutting the barbed wire fences and evading the guards and mines.
Naum Piatnicki
Escaped in the revolt on 14 October 1943
Joseph Pines
Aged fifteen years old worked with Moshe Bahir in the German casino -Killed during the revolt.
Chaim Plotnikow
Escaped from Sobibor and departed with Sasha Pechersky’s group that crossed the Bug River.
Josef Podchlebnik
From Kolo, a cousin of Szlomo Podchlebnik. A Foreman of the Waldkommando who attempted to escape on 20 July 1943. Captured he was executed but just before he was shot he shouted towards the Germans “ Remember there will come a time and we will be avenged”.
Szlomo Podchlebnik
Born 15 February 1907 in Kolo. Arrived in Sobibor on 28 April 1943 with his wife and two children from Izbica Lubelskie. Escaped from the Waldkommando on 20 July 1943 , with Josef Kopf whilst obtaining water to drink at the nearby village of Zlobek, after killing the Ukrainian guard.
After the war settled in the USA.
Cato Polak
A Dutch Jewess from The Hague. Deported to Sobibor on 13 March 1943 on the same transport as Mirjam Penha – Blits. She was selected on the ramp together with 32 women and 12 men.
After several hours she was deported to Lublin. Cato Polak survived the war and returned to Holland.
Mandel and Rozalia Polisecki
Mandel was born in 1895 in Kamionka. He was head of the Judenrat in Piaski. His wife Rozalia (date and place of birth unknown) was vice–president of the “Help Committee for Refugees and Poor People” in Piaski.
Their daughter Mania (* 8-11-1919) worked as a waitress in the Volksküche in the Piaski ghetto. They were all deported to Sobibor in July 1942
Walter Poppert
A Kapo in Camp II occasionally in the Waldkommando.
Chaim Powroznik
Born in Liubomil in 1911. Worked in a labour camp in Chelm. Deported to Sobibor in February 1943. A carpenter he worked in Camp I. Escaped from the camp during the October 1943 revolt
Herman Pozner
Born 8 October 1909 in Lubomel, Poland. Deported to Sobibor on 14 March 1943 from Chelm. Escaped during the revolt and after the war emigrated to Israel
Herz Pozycki
The younger brother of Kapo Szymon Pozycki. Herz carried out the murder of SS-Oberscharführer Beckmann.
Szymon Pozycki
A Kapo aged approximately 35. He played a leading role in the attack on Oberkapo Berliner. Pozycki became one of the key participants in the revolt.
He was killed during the revolt
Yankel Pozycki
The father of Kapo Szymon Pozycki. He escaped from Sobibor during the revolt.
Eduard Prins
Born 23 June 1874 in Deventer, Holland. Lived in Bussum, no acquaintances known. Deported to Sobibor where he perished on 9 July 1943.
Estera Raab
Born 11 June 1922 nee Terner in Chelm, Poland. Deported to Sobibor from the labour camp at Staw on 22 December 1942, on a horse wagon transport, together with Zelda Kelberman and Regina Feldman.
Worked in the knitting barrack near the tailor’s shop and in the sorting barracks. Escaped during the October 1943 revolt, and was wounded but survived.
Recognised Erich Bauer in Berlin with Samuel Lerer in 1949. After the war settled in the USA
Shimon Rabinowitz
Who worked in the kitchen gave the prisoners who were sick with typhus extra food, luckily SS – Oberscharführer Frenzel who almost discovered this act of mercy, did not do so.
Did not survive the revolt.
Hugo Railing
Born 14 May 1886 in Munich, Germany. Member of the Judenrat in Piaski. Deported to Sobibor in November 1942
Bunie Rajowicz
He was deported from Lvov. Appointed as a Kapo he was involved in the attempted escape by the Kapos in early September 1943. Together with the other Kapos’s including Guwerner he was denounced by Kapo “Berliner” and executed.
Siemion Rosenfeld
Born in 1922 in the Soviet Union. Soviet Prisoner of War. Arrived in Sobibor on 23 September 1943. Part of the underground, he was tasked with killing SS- Oberscharfuhrer Frenzel in the carpentry shop, but Frenzel did not keep the appointment.
Escaped from the camp, hid in the forest till he was liberated, and joined the Red Army, twice wounded he was involved in the fighting for Berlin. On the ruins of Hitler’s Chancellery he carved on the wall this inscription with his bayonet – Baranowicze – Sobibor – Berlin.
In the 1980’s left Russia and settled in Israel.
Aizik Rottenberg
Born 1925 in Wlodawa. Deported to Sobibor from Wlodawa on 1 May 1943. Selected by Frenzel along with his brother to work. His brother was killed during the revolt.
A bricklayer by profession and he worked on building a mess, a bakery and the construction of an arsenal, as well as in the Sorting barracks and on the ramp.
Escaped during the revolt, recaptured by Schupos, he was taken to Adampole, but he escaped to the Parczew forest. After the war settled in Israel.
Jankiel Rotter
Nephew of Stanislaw Szmajzner. Deported from Opole Lubelskie with Szmajzner, and selected to work as a jeweller. Did not survive the revolt.
Rubinson
Born in Lodz. In 1942/43 he was in the Osowa work camp, which was near Sobibor. Deported to Sobibor in the autumn of 1943 along with other prisoners.
At Osowa he was a friend of inmate Stefan Ostapiuk from Osowa.
Ilana Safran
Born 28 August 1926 nee Ursula Stern in Essen, Germany. Her family emigrated to Holland when the Nazis came to power. Arrested by the Germans she was sent to the camp at Vught, and later to Westerbork.
Deported from Westerbork transit camp on 6 April 1943 to Sobibor. Worked in the sorting barracks, the Waldkommando, and in Camp IV sorting munitions.
Escaped to the forest with Katty Gokkes, where she joined the partisans. After the war settled in Israel. Died in 1985 in Ashdod Israel.
Saba Salz
From Lublin. Worked in the sorting barracks. Did not survive the revolt.
Fritz Sanger
Born 12 September 1891 in Augsburg, Germany. Member of the Judenrat in Piaski. Deported to Sobibor in November 1942.
Jules Schelvis
Born 7 January 1921 in Amsterdam. Printer by profession. Married Rachel Borzykowski on 18 December 1941. Deported from Westerbork 1 June 1943 together with his wife Rachel and her family.
Selected in the Sobibor reception area together with 80 other young men to work as a peat-cutter at the Dorohucza labour camp, a subcamp of Trawniki. His wife and her family were gassed on arrival.
From Dorohucza he was sent to Lublin (labour camp Alter Flugplatz) and later to the Radom ghetto to work in a printing office. When the Radom ghetto was liquidated he came to Auschwitz concentration camp where he was selected to work at a forced labour camp in the south-western part of Germany. Eventually he was liberated by French allied forces.
He survived the war and in 1986 published his memoirs in a Dutch language book “Binnen de Poorten”. After studying juridical archives he also wrote a book on “Extermination Camp Sobibor”. An English version of this book will be published in 2007.
Rachel Schelvis
Born in Amsterdam nee Borzykowski on 2 March 1923. Married Jules Schelvis on 18 December 1941. Deported from Westerbork on 1 June 1943 together with her husband Jules and her family.
Gassed on arrival with her whole family, apart from Jules.
Ernst Schlosser
Born 16 January 1884 in Sorgenloch, near Mainz Germany. Member of the Judenrat in Piaski. Deported to Sobibor in November 1942
Salomon Schrijver
Born in Amsterdam on 25 May 1917, caught by the Germans and interned in the Westerbork transit camp. Deported to Sobibor where he perished on 9 July 1943.
Levi Schwarz
Levi was born 30 March 1859 in Raesfeld, Germany. Before the war they emigrated to Holland. He lived in Hilversum with his daughters Friederike and Hedwig, and with Hedwig’s husband and daughter Juliana.
Levi was deported from Westerbork camp to Sobibor on 25 May 1943, where he perished three days later.
Mathilde Schwarz
Born 9 April 1869 nee Rosenbaum, in Borken, Germany. Before the war she emigrated to Holland. She was deported from Westerbork transit camp to Sobibor on 30 April 1943.
Walter Schwarz
A German Jew, who worked as an electrician, although some sources state he was from Czechoslovakia. He put the camps generator out of action, during the revolt.
He escaped from the camp to the forest.
Jacob Moritz Seligman
Born 25 July 1884 in Hamburg. Deported in March 1943 from Westerbork to Sobibor where he perished on 5-21-1943.
David Serczuk
Escaped during the revolt in October 1943.
Jozek Serczuk
Escaped during the revolt in October 1943.
Shapiro
From Vienna. Woman Capo in charge of the knitters
Alexander Shubayev
Also known as Kali- Mali. Soviet Prisoner of War from Baku. Member of the underground. Took part in the killing of SS- Untersturmfuhrer Niemann
Escaped from the camp and with Pechersky and joined the Voroshilov partisans where he was killed fighting the Germans.
Josef Siegel
Sixteen years old at the time of the uprising, also known by his Yiddish nickname Jossel. Protected by Kurt Thomas in the camp infirmary. Thomas and Siegel met while escaping from the camp, but as far as we know Jossel did not survive.
Jacob Smeer
Born 17 December 1904 in Amsterdam. Son of Azor Smeer and Sara Smeer, nee Cohen. Accused of communist propaganda and sabotage he was arrested by the Germans and imprisoned in Scheveningen prison. Deported to Westerbork camp.
On 25 May 1943 deported from Westerbork to Sobibor where he perished on 28 May 1943.
Cvi Sobelman
Escaped from Sobibor during the revolt in October 1943. Survived the war.
Bajle Sobol
A young woman from Dubienka. Deported to Sobibor together with Eda Lichtman in June 1942. She worked together with Eda Lichtman in the laundry.
Probably killed in the revolt.
Kapo Spitz
40 year old Jew from Holland who was appointed Kapo. Was not considered completely reliable. He may have been Siegfried Spitz from Vienna, * 23 April 1902, probably killed after the revolt.
Li van Staden
Female assistant to Max Van Dam, who painted portraits of the SS.
Shaul Stark
Born in Zolkiewka
Deported to Sobibor in the same transport as Leon Feldhendler. In charge of the geese was killed when one goose died.
Abraham and Hella (Chaja) Stodel
Abraham (Ab) was born 2 July 1920 in Amsterdam. Leather worker by profession. Hella was born 6 August 1921 in Amsterdam, nee Borzykowski. She was the daughter of David and Gretha Borzykowski. Hella and Ab got married on 18 December 1941, on the same day her sister Rachel married Jules Schelvis.
Ab’s parents, Levie Stodel (* 14-12-1882) and Esther Stodel nee Vischschraper (* 12-1-1888) were gassed in Sobibor on 13 March 1943. Ab and Hella were rounded up together with the Borzykowski family on 26 May 1943. They were deported to Westerbork and all sent to Sobibor on June 1st.
After the arrival at Sobibor on 4 June 1943, in the reception area, Ab and his brother-in-law Jules Schelvis were selected to work in the Dorohucza labour camp, in the Sobibor reception area.
Hella was sent immediately to the gas chambers, together with her parents, her brother and her sister. Ab perished in Dorohucza, probably in November 1943 during the Aktion Erntefest.
Moshe Sturm
Also known in the Camp as “Moses the Governor”. From Hrubesziow. Was the Head Kapo – aged 22 years old. Betrayed by Kapo “ Berliner” in September 1943, for an alleged escape attempt, and executed with most of the other Kapos in Camp III.
Pinkas Suss
Born 25 March 1870. Deported on 27 April 1942 from Vienna, Austria to Wlodawa. Taken from Wlodawa to Sobibor where he perished.
Josef and Posel Szmajzner
Parents of Stanislaw Szmajzner. Lived in Pulawy. Deported from Opole to Sobibor, arrived in Sobibor on 12 May 1942. Gassed on his arrival with his daughter Ryrka, who was married.
Mosze Szmajzner
Brother of Stanislaw Szmajzner arrived in Sobibor on 12 May 1942. Deported with him from Opole Lubelski. He was selected together with Stanislaw Szmajzner, Nojech Szmajzner and Jankiel Rotter.
They worked in the camp as jewellers. He did not survive the revolt.
Nojech Szmajzner
From Wolwonice. Cousin of Stanislaw Szmajzner. Deported to Sobibor from Opole Lubelski on 12 May 1942. He worked in the camp as a jeweller.
He did not survive the revolt.
Stanislaw Szmajzner
Born 13 March 1927 in Pulawy, Poland. Deported to Sobibor on 12 May 1942 from Opole Lubelski with his family. Selected to live with his brother and cousin, Stanislaw a goldsmith made rings and jewellery for the Nazis.
Gustav Wagner later appointed him Chief of the Machine Shop. Joined the underground and was responsible for stealing weapons and as he repaired stoves in the Ukrainian living quarters, was able to achieve this brave feat.
He participated fully in the revolt, and escaped from the camp. After the war he settled in Brasil, and wrote a book about his experiences in Sobibor called “Inferno in Sobibor” in 1968.
He identified former SS- Oberscharfuhrer Gustav Wagner, who had escaped justice and had also settled in Brasil, in May 1978. He committed suicide on 3 March 1989 in Goiania Brasil.
Mira Szpiro
She was deported to Sobibor from Siedliszcze. Eda Lichtman described her as a beautiful young woman. She was killed during the revolt.
Sylvia Sztycer
Sylvia Sztycer was born on New Year’s Day 1940, in a hospital in Voorburg Holland. She lived in the Hague together with her father Max, mother Ilse, elder brother Sem and baby brother Ruben.
Early in 1943 the family were interned in the Camp at Vught. Mother and children were sent on the infamous Children’s Transport, 6 June 1943 to Wwesterbork Camp.
On the 13 July 1943 Sylvia together with her mother and brothers were deported to Sobibor where they were gassed on 16 July 1943. Sylvia’s father survived the war.
Leon Szymiel
Escaped from Sobibor during the revolt.
Boris Taborinskij
Born 1917 in Minsk, Soviet Union. Deported to Sobibor from Minsk on 15 September 1943. Worked as a roofer. Member of the underground, and was charged with cutting the barbed wire by the Commandant’s house.
Escaped from the camp and survived the war.
Israel Teitelbaum
Born 27 January 1925 in Leipzig, Germany. In 1938 he emigrated to Holland where he became involved in Zionist activity (Youth Aliyah pavilion “Loosdrechtse Rade”). Went into hiding but was arrested by the Gestapo.
On 27 April 1943 he was deported from Holland to Sobibor where he perished 3 days later.
Judikje Themans
Born 20 August 1904 in The Hague, Holland, nee Simons. Won a gold medal for the Dutch gymnastic team in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics.
Together with her daughter Sonja (* 9-3-1918) and son Leon ( 28-2-1940), both born in Utrecht, she was killed in Sobibor on 20 March 1943.
Kurt Max Thomas (Ticho)
Born 11 April 1914 in Brünn in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, later the city was named Brno, Czechoslovakia. Deported from Terezin (Theresienstadt) to Trawniki, and then the ghetto at Piaski.
On 6 November 1942 deported from Piaski to Sobibor. Worked in the sorting barracks and later as a medical orderly
He escaped from the camp during the revolt. Girlfriend Minny Cats, born in Haarlem Holland on 6 March 1920, perished on the day of the uprising, 14 October 1943. Emigrated to the USA in 1948.
Israel (Srulke) Trager
Was born in Chelm in 1906, he escaped from Sobibor during the revolt, and died in Tel-Aviv in 1969. He is survived by his son; Moti Trager who lives in Israel.
Menno and Ansje (Annie) Troostwijk
Menno was born on 13 April 1909 in Zwolle, Holland. Ansje was born on 29 September 1917 in Amsterdam, Holland, nee Hijmans. Menno worked as a sales supervisor.
Deported from Westerbork camp to Sobibor on 10 March 1943, where Menno was murdered on the 13th. She was selected on the Sobibor ramp to work in the labour camp in Trawniki.
She died at the Trawniki camp from tuberculosis.
Zygmund Tuchman
A Kapo 17 years old was transferred with his group from Camp II to Camp III when they were transferring disinfectants to the death camp area, and inadvertently saw inside Camp III.
Leni (Magdalena) Valk
Born 28 September 1933 in Goch, Germany. Daughter of Walter and Erna Valk. She was sent by her parents to family in Leeuwarden, Holland, where lived Isaak Valk (* 4-9-1889 in Embden, Germany) and Herta Valk nee Hoffmann (* 11-6-1898 in Jever, Germany), together with Herta’s parents. The latter were deported to Auschwitz in October 1942. Isaak, Herta and Leni werd deported to Sobibor and perished on 21 May 1943.
Jonas and Catharina Veffer
Jonas Veffer, a diamond worker, was born 20 October 1893 in Amsterdam. His wife Catharina Veffer nee Stuiver was also born in Amsterdam on 14 March 1895. They lived on Tugelaweg, in the quarter of the city known as the Transvaal area, where many Jews had settled after the slum clearance in the old Jewish quarter in the 1920s.
They had two daughters, Carla and Lotty. In spring 1943 they were interned in Camp Vught. Because Carla was under 16, she and her parents had to leave the camp with the children;s transport, early June, to Westerbork. They were subsequently deported to Sobibor, where they perished on 11 June 1943. Lotty stayed in Vught and survived the war.
Raphaël Viool
Born 4 December 1895 in Rotterdam. His wife Sophia Viool nee Soesman (* 28-1-1895) was killed in Sobibor on 23 April 1943. Raphaël, a baker in the camp, and his daughters Betje (* 25-4-1924) and Judik (* 4-5-1926), were spared from being executed following the alleged escape plot. They eventually perished in or after the uprising.
Mozes and Sophia Vromen
Mozes Vromen (* 6-7-1897 in Lochem, Holland) and his wife Sophia nee Van Dam (* 24-10- 1898 in Dordrecht, Holland) lived in ‘s-Hertogenbosch where their daughters Marie (* 15-10- 1926) and Josephine (* 19-12-1929) were born.
Later they lived in Voorburg, Kon. Wilhelminalaan 30 (re-named Admiraal De Ruijterlaan in 1942) from where they were interned in Camp Vught, in spring 1943. Josepnine was on the children’s transport in early June to Westerbork.
Mother and daughter Marie perished in Sobibor on 11 June, father and Josephine shared their fate on 16 July 1943.
Adi Wahrhaftig
Born 3 February 1928 in Berlin, Germany. Son of Isack Wahrhaftig and Bella ( nee Schiff). Lived in Hilversum, Holland. Deported from Westerbork camp to Sobibor where he perished on 23 July 1943.
Alexsy Wajcen
Born 30 May 1922 in Grigoriw Soviet Union. Deported from Ternopol to Sobibor in June 1942. Worked in the Sorting barracks. Was put in charge of a battle team marching back from work, and to raid the armoury.
Escaped during the revolt, survived the war.
Arkady Moishejwicz Wajspapier
Born in 1921. Served in the Red Army. Seriously wounded in the battle for Kiev. Imprisoned in a concentration camp in Minsk. Deported to Sobibor on 22 September 1943
Worked on building barracks in Camp IV. In the revolt took part in the killing of SS- Scharführer Graetschus and the Volksdeutsher Ivan Klatt. He escaped during the revolt and went with Sasha Pechersky group across the River Bug
He survived the war.
Berl Waks
Escaped from Sobibor during the revolt of October 1943.
Yczy Moshe Waks
A relative of Toivi Blatt also from Izbica. Following the escape by the Waldkommando on 20 July 1943, Yczy Waks was selected by SS- Oberscharführer Frenzel, because he had his leg bandaged.
His seventeen – year old son could only look on helplessly.
Abraham Wang
Deported from Izbica to Sobibor at the beginning of 1943. Escaped from the Waldkommando on 20 July 1943.
Paul Weijl
Born 6 February 1900 in Ochtrup near Gronau, Germany. Before the war he emigrated to Amsterdam, Holland. He was deported from Westerbork camp to Sobibor on 7 May 1943.
Leon Weissberg
Father –in-law of Eda Lichtman. Doctor in Wieliczka, deported from there together with his wife Susel to Sobibor. He arrived in Sobibor wearing his doctors clothes.
Eda saw him for the last time on his way to Camp III.
Susel Weissberg
Mother-in–law of Eda Lichtman. She was deported from Wieliczka near Krakow to Sobibor in early 1943. Eda saw her being led to Camp III.
Jozef (Joop) Wins
Deported from Westerbork to Sobibor on 14 May 1943. He was selected on the ramp and sent to the labour camp at Dorohucza, a sub-camp of Trawniki.
He survived the war.
Kalmen Wewryk
Born 25 June 1906 in Chelm. Deported to Sobibor in the autumn of 1942. Worked as a Zimmermann. Escaped during the revolt. Wrote a book – To Sobibor and Back : An Eyewitness Account.
After the war settled in Canada.
Judith Wurms
Born 23 July 1932 in Amsterdam. She was the youngest of a family who lived at the Zwanenburgwal, near Warerlooplein, in the old Jewish quarter of the city.
She and her mother Henderika Wurms nee Neeter (* 15-3-1894 in Groningen), were on the children’s transport from camp Vught to Westerbork in early June 1943, and from there to Sobibor, where they perished on 11 June 1943.
Meier Ziss
Born 15 November 1927 in Lublin. Deported to Sobibor in May / June 1942.
Worked in the Sorting barracks, a hair cutter and later he burned the documents of the murdered Jews. He escaped during the October 1943 revolt.
Naatje de Zoete
Born 28 July 1872 in Arnhem, Holland, nee De Zoete. Last known address (from June 1941): Westvlietweg 76 Leidschendam. In that house also lived her son Hendrik Eduard, his wife Sophie Polak and their children Mirjam Rachel, Judith Ruth and Hadassah. The family survived the war and returned to Rotterdam, where they had lived several years before the war.
Only grandma Naatje was killed in Sobibor on 16 July 1943.
Sources:
Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka – by Yitzhak Arad, Indiana University Press Bloomington and Indianapolis 1987
Sobibor Martyrdom and Revolt – by Miriam Novitch , Holocaust Library New York 1980
Sobibor – The Forgotten Revolt – by Thomas Toivi Blatt, H.E.P Issaquah 1998
Vernichtungslager Sobibór – by Jules Schelvis, UNRAST Verlag Hamburg / Munster 2003
De Negentien treinen naar Sobibor by E.A. Cohen
Digitaal Monument voor de Joodse Gemeenschap in Nederland, Joods Historisch Museum Amsterdam
Erf Goed Nieuws, Vereniging Erfgoed Leidschendam, december 2004
Jewish Gen
Ghetto Fighters House
USHMM
Yad Vashem
Namen und Schicksale der Juden Kassels. Ein Gedenkbuch – Kassel 1986
In Memoriam Book - NIOD Amsterdam, Holland / In Memoriam – Lezecher OGS, - Centre of Research on Dutch Jewry, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2001
Jewish Sports Legends - by Josef Seigman, Washington DC
Zullen wij nog terugkeren….. – by Kees Ribbens, Uitgeverij Bekking Amersfoort 2002
Private Sources / Testimonies / Correspondence
Grandson of Edgar Kahn
Angelika Tiermann, Germany
Joe Nol
Robert Kuwalek
Earnest Cotton, USA
Copyright CRW/MVL 2007 H.E.A.R.T
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